Recently diagnosed with Frozen Shoulder

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Hi all, I have recently been diagnosed with Frozen Shoulder,  I have always been very fit and healthy but at 49 age is finally taking its toll.  The doctor did not tell me very much so I researched a lot on the internet and read a few true life stories some inspirational ones after reading peoples stories it makes common sense to just let nature take its course and as I understand it there are three stages.  I have tried to make the best of what I do have which is two working legs and one working arm and I am now regularly doing mild stretches every day with my good parts and just getting lots of rest on my frozen shoulder until I can comfortably do some stretches, I have been using a hot water bottle to keep it warm and taking cod liver oil capsules and vitamins, I am trying to avoid moving it too much.  The pain comes and goes probably more at night time but it is now bareable and I am not taking painkillers although I did take some for a couple of days.  It will be a week on Friday since I got diagnosed and I do feel a bit better I just hope its not going to be a long haul but from what I have read and all the stories it could be months or years, there is one story i read that struck out the most and I will try and find the link and re post it, this lady took 9 months to heal she said PT was a waste of time and she explored other remedies but in the end she just left it to nature and got through the three stages still she could finally move it.  She said after a while she could not be bothered with the exercising and just let nature take its course.

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  • Posted

    I’m in the UK, female and 48. These boards were very helpful for me when I was dealing with a frozen shoulder so I thought I would put down what worked for me as it may help others too.  It is extremely frustrating how little help the NHS give with this condition (even little things which can make a big difference) I do wish more research could be done as it’s so debilitating and depressing and I would imagine 1000s of working hours are lost due to FS.

    Timeline

    Oct 2013 – felt slight twinges in shoulder, mild pain and ignored it.

    Dec 13 – Increasing pain, particularly at night and increasing stiffness.

    Jan 14 – Diagnosis by Lead Physiotherapist of frozen shoulder.

    Feb - End of March 14 – Physio x 1 per week

    End of Feb – June 14 – Taking Serrapeptase and marked improvement with range and flexibility and less pain

    Dec 15 – Shoulder range and flexibility much improved, shoulder is still weak. Now back to working out with a 8kg kettlebell and can manage 5 press-ups.

    April 16 – Shoulder strength returning, range and flexibility almost back to normal. Can now do 7 press-ups!

     

    On a limited income and no private health care, but this is what helped me:

     

    During the painful stages I found a small TENS machine really helped during the day and at night. On waking during the night I would put the TENS on for 20 minutes and it would relieve the pain so that I could get back to sleep.  You can pick up small cheap ones in Boots and other pharmacies.

    Warm baths with bath salts and relaxing essential oils. Even cheap Radox bath salts made a difference. Regular warm baths with Epsom salts even better.

    RE: Physio – I refused to do the exercises that caused excruciating pain and just did those that I felt were helping and not hindering. I think the gentle exercises such as Pendulums are excellent to keep the shoulder moving. I also researched Trigger therapy online and used a tennis ball to do that too.

    Serrapeptase – Taken for 4 months and I had a lot of improvement during this time in terms of reduction of pain and increase in range and flexibility. I am unable to take ibuprofen based anti-inflammatories and this was my alternative, after researching online. I feel that it helped a lot and other people have also had improvement with it, but other people have taken it to no effect.

    I hope this may be of some help to you and other FS sufferers. Best of luck!

    PS: A practical tip for those who like to wear dresses with a back zip...attach a paperclip to a piece of string and attach the paperclip to the zip pull. When you have put the dress on, pull the zip up by the string with your good arm, removing the paperclip/string when zip is fully pulled up.

     

    • Posted

      Thanks you Brandolover, I appreciate very reading your comments and what worked for you.  Very interesting about the warm baths and bath salts.  I am convinced that this frozen shoulder condition is caused by the extreme cold climate we live in and I have bought myself a long hot water bottle that is made by a company call YUYU, I cannot post the link because it will probably get deleted as I do not think you are allowed to post links on this site.  But feel free to check it out because it is something I intend on using long after my frozen shoulder is healed and it really does warm up the joints inside and makes them more flexible - I almost feel like I am sitting on the beach in a tropical climate. Unlike the normal hot water bottles this one can tie around your back shoulder waiste or anywhere where you are experiencing aches and pains and once a small amount of pressure is applied you can really feel it working.

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